IBM pulls ads from X, citing ‘zero tolerance for hate speech’

IBM confirmed to The Hill it is pulling advertisements from X, the platform formerly known as Twitter Thursday, citing “’zero tolerance for hate speech.”

“IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation,” IBM told the Financial Times.

Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, faced backlash Wednesday for appearing to agree with an antisemitic post on the platform, replying it was the “absolute truth.” The post that Musk replied to was a response to another post by a user raising an issue with increasing antisemitism.

“To the cowards hiding behind the anonymity of the internet and posting ‘Hitler was right’: You got something you want to say?” the initial user, who identified themselves as a “Jewish Conservative” in their bio, wrote. “Why dont you say it to our faces.”

In response, another user said in a different post that “Jewish [communities] have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.”

“I’m deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest shit now about western Jewish populations coming to the disturbing realization that those hordes of minorities that support flooding their country don’t exactly like them too much,” the user continued, adding, “You want truth said to your face, there it is.”

Musk replied: “You have said the actual truth.”

Amongst those who pushed back against Musk’s apparent agreement with the antisemitic post was CNN anchor Jake Tapper, who said it on X it was “pushing unvarnished antisemitism at a time of rising antisemitism and violence against Jews.”